I had a chance to go to the Washington Redskins Social Media Day. This was an opportunity for fans and social media professionals to be part of a great event for a day. Not only did a I really enjoy this experience as a fan of football, but I was also able to see what it from the perspective of someone who teaches and researches social media. We advocate for “fan engagement events” or those that bring forth communities to be part of an experience with a team or brand in campaign proposals or exercises. But, do we really now how they are supposed to go as a professor to share with our students?
Well, I can say I have had a chance to be part of such event where I was able to see how one team embraced their fans and advocated for the virtual connection on social media. There were a lot of highlights and takeaways for me both as a fan and as a social media professor I wanted to share with you.
Social media branding EVERYWHERE
It seems like wherever you went, you got a chance to see where the Redskins were at when it came to their presence on social media. They were very good in letting fans and everyone know they were all on the major platforms, and that they also had an app. That is good to know and create this branding awareness for the team offline as well as online.
In order to see all of the content being created, the Redskins were working with Zoomph (a great company!) and had a place near the front of the room where you could see all of the social media updates. This was VERY cool! This was in real time and the presentation of the updates was very visually pleasing. Another highlight for me was to finally meet Amir from Zoomph in person! We are connected via Twitter, but it is always awesome to meet in person! Great job and thank you for the chat, Amir!
Hashtag Branding (#RedskinsSocialDay)
Loved the idea and implementation they had for their Social Media Day. When we checked in, we got a special lanyard and we saw that we had another item besides our event credentials. We had on one side a list of all of the accounts and hashtags to use for the day (brilliant!). I knew of the various platforms the Washington Redskins are on (their Snapchat account is definitely a must follow!), but I was not aware of ALL of their hashtags. This was a great example of informing through traditional means the various ways to engage on social media.
Fan engagement through social media bingo
The social media event was pretty much the afternoon, and the team wanted those in attendance to engage and interact with their various platforms. So, what did they do? Created a social media bingo experience with prizes to give away. This was a great idea because it allowed everyone to produce content while engaging with the team virtually. The prizes? Two tickets to a pre-season game against the Buffalo Bills. Kristin and I were able to get tickets to the game. For someone who doesn’t win a lot, this was pretty cool!
This was a great idea because it allowed everyone to produce content while engaging with the team virtually. The prizes? Two tickets to a pre-season game against the Buffalo Bills. Kristin and I were able to get tickets to the game. For someone who doesn’t win a lot, this was pretty cool!
The other thing I thought was brilliant too about this event is you had a mixture of huge Redskins fans AND social media professionals. For me, I got a chance to see first hand the people who are the real loyal fans and who embrace everything there is about Redskins. On the other side, they get to see me and a few others who are working in the social space and what we are doing. It was a very well designed group so we could see both sides of the table.
Snapchat filter for the event
This was awesome to see here for the Redskins! I have to admit this is the first place I look for to see if a place or event has a filter. I was very happy to see the Redskins had one for the session and day! I think I might have used this on Snapchat a few times! 🙂
Now…putting on my social media professor hat on
I had a truly amazing time and experience at the Washington Redskins event, and I feel they have created something that is really wonderful. I wish more teams were doing this not only at the professional level, but college level (hint, hint Louisville!) While I think there were many great things about this social media event, there are a few things I think we can look at and expand upon for future events like this.
- Tie in in person AND virtual engagement with the fans. I think the social media team at the Washington Redskins made us feel welcome and very comfortable in the event. One thing I wished the did was move around to the different tables and talked to each of us. I know they were pretty busy with everything going on and making sure we had all we needed, but the extra step in reaching out to us a bit more for a chat would have been great.
- Have specific social media stations. We had various tasks to do for the bingo, but there could have been some various stations around the training facility to promote certain platforms. Having a selfie station for Twitter (using Twitter Mirror perhaps?), checking in with Instagram, Snapping with a player at the walkthrough, etc. This could have been great for people to explore other parts of the training facility, but share specific content that ranges both in location, focus, and platform.
- More opportunities to explore the social media strategy for the Redskins. We got a taste of these on the tactical level, but I think if there was a point where they could share WHY they were doing these strategies, what is next, what are some pieces of content or ideas they have to bounce off to the fans for feedback, etc – this would have been wonderful to experience and share. I think as a group, we could have provided some great ideas here. It would have been somewhat of a mini focus group and everyone would have felt they were able to be part of the team on this.
- Have fan correspondents. During the Q&As with players and teams, you were able to ask them questions via Twitter – which is good, but the purpose of being at a social media day event is to be able to have that personal connection. I think if you had designated areas for people to interview or ask questions related to the team for players and coaches, that would have been amazing!
Summary
How would I rate my experience at #RedskinsSocialDay? I had a FABULOUS time! This was a great event to be a part of and I am very thankful for the experience. I would like to thank Bryan and his social and digital media team for taking care of us and allowing us to be part of this amazing experience. I would encourage teams or institutions (especially in college) to consider exploring the opportunity of hosting such an event for games, theatre, open houses, or invitationals. This really brings forth a sense of community and allows you to engage both virtually AND in person to create stories, memories, and experiences to share with everyone.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
